District Attorney Michael Rourke waits for the bond hearing to begin Aug. 16 at Weld County Courthouse in Greeley. (Joshua Polson/jpolson@greeleytribune.com).It’s been more than three weeks since Christopher Watts was formally advised of the charges in his triple homicide case, and it’ll be two months before he returns to Weld District Court on Nov. 19 for a status conference.Given the high-profile nature of the crime and the media attention it has already garnered, one question remains at the top of the public’s mind: Will Weld District Attorney Michael Rourke seek the death penalty for the alleged murders of Shanann, Bella and Celeste Watts?During a news conference this past month after charges had been filed, Rourke said it was too early in the process to make that decision. On Thursday, Krista Henery, spokeswoman for the Weld District Attorney’s Office, reiterated Rourke’s earlier statement.Chris WattsAnd it likely won’t be until some time next year before a decision has been made.According to Colorado law, a district attorney has 63 days from the date of an arraignment to determine whether to pursue capital punishment in a murder case. An arraignment hearing isn’t on the docket yet and won’t be scheduled until Watts’ next hearing in November.”We’re talking many months before he (Rourke) will make or announce that decision,” Henery said in an email to The Tribune.Interest in how Rourke plans to prosecute Watts isn’t surprising, however, considering how rare death penalty cases are in Colorado.Since 1975, when the death penalty was reinstated in Colorado, only 14 cases have ended in death sentences, according to the Washington D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center. Three inmates are currently on death row and Colorado has carried out just one execution in more than four decades.The Watts case also could be fascinating in terms of cost. If the country learned nothing else from the infamous James Holmes case, putting on a death-penalty case can be a time-consuming and costly endeavor.[swift-infobox title=”Death row”]Death row inmates by state as of April 1, 2018:

California: 740

Florida: 354

Texas: 235

Alabama: 188

Pennsylvania: 160

North Carolina: 144

Ohio: 141

Arizona: 121

Colorado: 3

*Colorado is tied for the third fewest inmates on death row with South Dakota and Virginia.– Source: Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C.[/swift-infobox]According to the 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler’s website, Arapahoe County spent $1.9 million to prosecute Holmes, $1.1 million of which came from federal victims assistance grants.Calls to the Colorado Public Defender’s Office for its costs were not immediately returned, but the Denver Post estimated in the wake of the Holmes trial the case cost taxpayers between $3 million and $3.5 million. The Death Penalty Information Center estimates more than $5 million in public money was spent on the Holmes case.Should Rourke pursue a death penalty conviction, the cost of taking the Watts case to trial would probably be on par with Denver Post estimates. The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado says death penalty trials cost taxpayers an average of $3.5 million per case, as opposed to an average of $150,000 per life-without-parole case.Don Warden, director of the Weld County Finance and Administration Office, said the county could hypothetically absorb any reasonable requests for additional resources should Rourke seek the death penalty against Watts, such as adding a deputy district attorney and an investigator to work on the case. The county could not provide James Holmes-type funds without cutting from other county programs, Warden said.Much of the increased cost comes from more time spent in the courtroom, said former Weld District Attorney Al Dominguez. In Colorado, a death penalty case is tried in two phases: the guilt phase followed by the penalty phase. The jury must also be “death qualified,” meaning jurors can’t have strong opinions one way or the other about one of the most controversial social issues facing the nation today.Jury selection can therefore take an exorbitant amount of time. According to a 2013 study published by the University of Denver Criminal Law Review, it takes on average a day and a half to seat a jury in a life-without-parole case. It takes an average of 26 days in a death penalty case.The study also showed a life-without-parole case takes about a year and a half to complete from charges to sentencing. A death penalty case averages more than five years.But Dominguez said it would be unethical to allow costs or case length to be determining factors in whether to move forward with a death penalty case, adding the evidence should dictate the decision. Dominguez prosecuted Allen Bergerud, a Johnstown man who in 2002 lured his ex-girlfriend, Linda Cooper, and her new boyfriend, Lon Yeaman, to an isolated field in the middle of the night and shot them both to death. It was the last capital murder case in Weld County.[swift-infobox title=”Executions”]Executions by state since 1976:

Texas: 533

Virginia: 113

Oklahoma: 112

Florida: 94

Missouri: 88

Georgia: 72

Alabama: 63

Ohio: 56

N. Carolina: 43

S. Carolina: 43

Colorado: 1

*Colorado tied for fewest with Wyoming, New Mexico and Connecticut– Source: Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C.[/swift-infobox]What tipped the scale for Dominguez was a recording of the 911 call. After Yeaman was shot in the head, Cooper called police as Bergerud fled the area. Bergerud returned a few minutes later just before the Weld County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the scene.”The girl (Cooper) was on the phone with police and you could hear her begging for her life,” Dominguez said. “Then he finally did her in. That was such a heinous crime in my opinion and it warranted the death penalty.”After a month-long trial, a juror announced he didn’t believe in convicting “anyone of first-degree anything,” Dominguez said. Rather than appoint an alternate juror, whom they had, the judge in the case declared a mistrial.The case was moved to Fort Morgan and picked up by incoming Weld District Attorney Ken Buck, who now serves Colorado as a congressman. Buck took death off the table, Dominguez said.But Buck said this week the decision wasn’t that simple. He told The Tribune in 2005 he didn’t think a jury would return a death penalty verdict given the three years that had already passed. The parents of the victims were split about wanting to pursue the death penalty, which also played a role in Buck’s decision at the time.Looking back on it now, Buck said he thought the mitigating factors were going to outweigh the aggravating factors.In a death penalty case in Colorado, the jury is instructed to consider both the aggravating and mitigating factors of the crime.Aggravating factors could include a defendant’s prior criminal history, lack of remorse or committing the crime in front of a child, among others. Mitigating factors could include the defendant was under duress at the time of the crime, there are other equally culpable defendants or the crime was committed under severe mental or emotional disturbance.There’s also a broadly defined “other factors” category that could include literally anything the jury can think of as a mitigating factor, Dominguez said, such as a rough childhood, lack of education or high-level of education, or a defendant’s character.”Really anything can be a mitigating factor,” Dominguez said. “The idea, philosophically, is death is the ultimate penalty a person can receive, so every opportunity is given to the jury to mitigate.”If the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors, the judge must impose a death sentence. If there are more mitigating factors, the judge must order a life sentence.Prosecutors go through the same process when determining whether or not to file capital charges, Buck said.”We went through a long process of analyzing the (Bergerud) case,” Buck said. “We brought in the family, witnesses, related victims, defense attorneys and anyone else we could think of who was connected to the case, and determined a jury likely wouldn’t return a death sentence.”I’m sure Michael is going through a similar process as he tries to determine over the next couple of months if the case is aggravating enough to seek the death penalty.”– Joe Moylan covers crime and public safety for The Greeley Tribune. Reach him at jmoylan@greeleytribune.com, (970) 392-4467 or on Twitter @JoeMoylan.